In this chapter, we will cover:
- Creating a Group
- Adding static members to a Group
- Removing a static member from a Group
- Adding dynamic members to a Group
- Creating a Group from a Lookup
- Using the Groups tab
- Working with the Group Detail view
According to Webster's dictionary, a Group is "a number of individuals assembled together or having some unifying relationship." That definition is a fairly accurate description of an ACT! Group as well, although the "individuals" are your existing contact records. Another way to think of an ACT! Group is as a semi-permanent Lookup.
Group records work in much the same way as Contact records. The Contact Detail view helps you to keep track of all activities as they relate to an individual; the Group Detail record allows you to track activities as they relate to an entire Group of contacts. When used correctly, ACT! Groups provide you with the potential to increase the overall power and efficiency of the ACT! program. When used incorrectly they can consume your time without offering any real benefits.
All Groups share a few common elements:
- Groups are volatile: In general, Groups and the Contacts within them don't have to be permanent. You can change the Contacts in a Group and you can remove old Groups when they are no longer useful. Removing a Contact from a Group doesn't in turn remove the Contact from the database; alternatively, deleting a Group does not remove any Contacts from the database.
- There is no limit to the number of Groups that you can create: You're allowed to create as many Groups as you want; your only limitation is self-imposed.
- There is no limit to the number of Contacts a Group can contain: Add as many contacts to a Group as you want.
- There is no limit to the number of Groups a Contact can belong to: Depending on the type of Groups that you set up, you might find that a Contact belongs to more than one Group. For example, if you use Groups to help with project management, the same subcontractor might appear in several Groups.
- Relational cross-referencing: By creating a Group, you can easily move between the Group as a whole and the individual members within the Group. From the Group Detail window, you can see a list of all the contacts that belong to that Group; from the Contact Detail window, you can see all the Groups that a contact belongs to.
- You can create 15 levels of subGroups: For example, you might create a master Group of all your prospects, subdivide that Group into regions, subdivide those regional sub-Groups into sales rep Groups, and subdivide the sales rep Groups into product Groups!
- You can't see who is not in a Group: Although it's easy to see the members of a Group, or which Groups a specific Contact is a member of, there is no way of obtaining a list of the Contacts who are NOT in a Group.